Method of and means for embossing paper



. H. R. HARRIGAN.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR EMBOSSING PAPER APPLICATION FiLED mm. 1919.

1,388,641. Patented Aug- 23, 1921.

f I G El WI TNESS v I N VEN TOR. I 11w.- M K BY n--l d M,

A TTORNEY.

UNITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN R. HARRIGAN, OFH OLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN'OR TO AMERICAN WRITING PAPER COMPANY, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

unrrnon or AND MEANS r03 EMBOSSING Farm-z.

, Application filed April 9,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN R. I'IARRI-i can, a citizen oi the United States of America, and a resident of Holyoke, in the county of I lampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Means for Embossing Paper, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in methods of and means for embossing paper, and consists essentially in subjecting the paper to ground-work orbackground pressure on both sides, While at the same time permitting theother portions of said paper to remain uncompressed, and thus leaving the pattern standing out on both sides, the outline on one side exactly coinciding with that on the other side; and of means where with to carry cutthe process briefly de scribed above, or, in other words, compres sion members having the pattern cut, engraved, or otherwise indented in their adjacent surfaces and exactly alike relatively, so that the portions of the paper compressed by and between said members are diametrically opposite to each other, and the portions of the paper which are not compressed, but

project into the indented portions of said members, are diametrically opposite to each other, all as hereinafter set forth.

Heretofore paper has been embossed by subjecting it to the action of maleand female compression members, or compressing it between linen or other fabric. In the first of these cases the pattern is in offset relationship on the two sides of the paper, and, furthermore, the outline of the pattern is too sharp and harsh and so lacks the pleasing andartistic effect that it is desired to obtain; while in the second of these cases much expense is involved, the pattern are necessarily limited, and the pattern in any given example is also to some degree. in off-set relationship on the two sides of the paper. The primary object of my invention is, therefore, to produce a method of and means for expeditiously and economically embossing paper and embossing it so that bothsides are alike, that is to say, so. that the outline of the pattern on one side of the paper exactly coincides in osition and relatively with the outline of t e pattern on the other Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 23, 192] 1919. Serial No. 288,704.

side, there being in fact but one pattern which has absolutely the same appearance on both sides of the paper.

further object is to provide a method of and means for producing embossed paper or embossing paper in such a manner that the sharpness of the pattern is eliminated and replaced with a less severe or acute outline, or with an outline which is softened or toned down, so to speak, and, therefore, much more pleasing tothe eye and better adapted for writing and printing paper when applied to such caper.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description.

. I attain the objects and secure theadvantages of my invention and carry out the method the means illustrated in the ac gether with the paper associated with said rolls, being on a greatly enlarged and even exaggerated scale, the better to illustrate the invention; Fig. 2, a plan of'a piece of paper embossed by aid rolls, also on the same onlarged or exaggerated scale; and, Fig. 3, an end elevation, exaggerated as in the other views, of another means whercbythe desired results may be obtained. 1

. Similar characters of reference designate similar parts throughout the several views.

With this invention I amable to give any desired special finish to paperon both sides,

such as a fabric finish, for example, or a finish in imitation oi. leather--any tinish,in fact, the design of which can be engraved on the compression members. I here show a simplepal'alleLline finish or embossing.

In Fig. 1 two rolls 1 are represented. These rolls are substituted for those usually employed in an embossing machine. They must be very rigid so that they cannot spring, and, of course, it is necessary that the same be maintained in perfect alinenient. Engraved in the peripheral surface of each roll 1 is the pattermthe engraving in one roll being identical with that in the other roll, such engraving inthis case consisting of parallel grooves 2 which are spaced equidistant from each other. The rolls 1 7 are mounted and 'driven so as to locate any pair of adjacent, associated, or companion grooves 2, when they arrive in the vertical i plane of the axes of said rolls, it'being understood. that the latter are located with their axes in the same vertical plane, dia-' metrically opposite to or in line with each ,ent case, but the other roll has a raisedpatv a roll, it bei other.

In the old methodand means one of the rolls has a depressed pattern, as in the pres- L palper be fed to t e rolls 1 in sheets or from a m 1 of the same. i

The rolls 1: are so positioned relatively that the spacebetween them i's less thanthe thickness of the paper 3. It is now plainly to be seen that, when the rolls 1 are set in motion and caused to revolve in opposite 1 directionsand' the paper is fed between them, said paper is vcompressed b those rtions of said rolls" which are etween v ooves2, whilevthe portions of said pa er that pass betweenthe open mouths of said grooves, which latter are diametrically opposite'to each otheradjacent to thepoints of greatest. compression, :are left in pressed. 7 These non-compressed portions,

represented at 5, outline the pattern .and constitute the embossing. They} are the same and location. wAnd their edges are not too abrupt or sharp, but are tapered or curved so as to unite the pattern with the background in'such away as toproducea graceful ap earance and" harmonious effect.

1 Such e ect is due partly to the shape of the pr viously intimated. Anexarnple showing one 1 after passi 'sented in 2; l l r place 0 therolls 1 it may be possible e esof 'thevgrooves 2, .which may be rounded more-or less, andfpartly to the method by which-the workis done. .The compressed background is indicated by the numeral 4,

and theraisedl pattern by the numeral 5 as r. V 7 side ofthe-emboss-ed P P I 6f the p per as it appears tofemplo 7 plates having thereinthe ooves in diametrical juxtaposition, as

wn inFig. 3. With th1s means of compression the paper 3 is inserted between the plates 6,-and'the latter are pressed together. 7 to compress said paper'and form the back ground 4,"'at the same time leaving the pattern-iwhich is .niade'up or eonslsts of the funcompressed portions of the pa r.v The l described forgiving e ect to my ,metho s not behe'ved to be; nearly so pracbetween the rolls 1, is repreboth of-said rolls arrive in a tical'or efiicient as tlie first, but might be useful in some cases and with some apers. The embossing is done on paper w ich is in a dry state, that is to say, on has passed through the process 0 ture.

The compression members or elements are usually heated for the work of embos ing.

The method in detail will be fully understoodfrom the foregoing description of the compression elements and the explanation connected therewith.

Some minor changes in or departures from the. details, herein set forth may be made without violating the spirit of my inmanufac- -vention or exceeding the scope of what is claimed.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. The method of embossing paper consisting in passing the paper between compression rolls which have therein continuous indentations parallel with the axes of said i thelr'orlgi'nal state or w1thout being com 2. Means, for embossing paper, oom rising rolls having in their peripheral sur aces continuous indentations parallel with the xes of said rolls, and 'so arranged that, on'both sides ofthe paper, both in shape rolls being less than the thickness of the paper passed therebetween, and the bite between the deepest parts-of the indented portions of the rolls be' approximately equal to the thickness of said paper.

3,. Means, for embossing pa r, com rising rolls having in their perip eral sur aces continuous indentations which are parallel with the axes of said rolls and curved in cross section, and which are so arranged that, when any two adjacent indentations in (plane common to the axes of said rolls, sai indentations V are diametrically opposite to each other, the

bite between the indented rtions of the rolls being less than the t iokness of the paper passed therebetween, and the bite between the deepest parts of the indented portions of the rolls being approximately equal to the thickness of said pa r.

r I HERMAN R. fijkRRIGAN.

Witnesses:

MQN. Simmer; K. A. Bowman,

paper that 

